


Sweet As Honey

by yourdilemma



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluffy Angst, Happy Ending, Hunay, Love, Mentioning of scars, angsty, because i'm a shit writer, starts off as angst and ends up as fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-22 06:45:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9589343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourdilemma/pseuds/yourdilemma
Summary: Hunk Garrett hides the pain of his past under his kind goofiness and large appetite. Once he meets someone who understands him, however, he learns to accept himself for who he is and what his life has made him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Voltron Secret Valentine gift to queen-gr on Tumblr! Hope you and everyone else reading this enjoys!

No one saw his marks. The symbols of his pain. His anguish. No one but her. 

He always wore long-sleeved shirts and baggy pants with boots to hide those marks. He covered up his true feelings and focused on not repeating his mistakes. Everyone depended on him. He couldn’t screw up. Not again. 

_ Little Polynesian boy, they sneered. Don’t you have any tattoos? No? Well, how about we give you some. _

He still shudders in fear from the memory. He still bears the marks they made. He will never forget. 

His single mother, a chef working 90 hours a week, never knew about his scars till one night, when she accidentally walked on him taking a bath. She kissed his marks and asked where he’d gotten them from. He told her, and just a few days later, came home to police officers telling him his mother was gone. 

He remembered how sweet her voice was...sweet as honey.

He was placed in the foster system, in a rotating cycle of homes. He was quiet and kind to his foster parents, but everyone eventually turned him away because he had developed a habit of stress eating. He would be awake at 2 in the morning, gorging himself as tears ran down his face. When asked why he did it, he gave no answer. He did not tell them that food brought him comfort, reminded him of the mother he had lost. 

In one of his homes, he was caught eating when he was supposed to be asleep. His foster parents told him, “If you can eat that much, you might as well cook that much.” His foster mother taught him how to cook and he had fond memories of cooking with her for his foster father. Cooking became a stress reliever for him, and he always cooks when he needs to calm down. 

When he needs to remember the good in people, he thinks about her. 

When he was accepted into the Galaxy Garrison on an academic scholarship, he finally began to feel like someone...someone that wasn’t broken or messed up, but whole and intelligent. 

When he befriended Lance and Pidge, he realized he wasn’t worthless and could, in fact, have friends. Friends who cared about him. 

When he became a member of Voltron, he felt like he was actually able to contribute to a greater cause. He felt important...needed...wanted. 

And when he met her...Her voice was the sweetest he’d ever heard. Sweeter than honey, sweeter than his mother’s. She became someone who brought comfort to him. He met someone who could understand his feeling of being trapped, even more so than he did. 

_ “What’s the sky like?” _

_ “What? You’ve never seen the sky before?” _

He fell in love. 

His friends all called him kind, but from her mouth, he believed in it wholeheartedly. She showed him true kindness, and he vowed to follow her example. 

When he had to leave her behind...his heart was broken. He wanted her...needed her. In the darkness of the caves of the Balmera, she was bright as the stars she’d never seen. He couldn’t let her stars be captured and hidden away. 

_ “I’ll come back for you! I promise, Shay!” _

He battled long and hard alongside his team members and when she was finally in his arms, his heart swelled. She was so brave, beautiful, caring, smart...he loved her with all his heart. And when they finally saw the stars together, he swept her up in his arms and confessed to her. Her lips met his in response. 

She saw his scars and loved him for them. He saw hers and loved her for them. 

_ “It’s not a symbol of your weakness...more of a symbol of your strength.” _

It was rare that they would be able to see each other again. He had a duty to the universe, after all. But he promised they would meet again, and that next time, he’d bring a ring. 

Being a man of honor and full of compassion, of course he returned. Of course. 

_ “Hey, Hunk.” _

_ “Pidge! Do you know if the castle has a forge or something?” _

_ “Yeah, it does. ...Why do you ask?” _

_ “Um…” _

_ “You’re not planning on making friendship bracelets with Lance, are you?” _

_ “Yeah, actually. How did you know?” _

_ “God...how’d I ever put up with you two back at the Garrison?” _

_ “Aww, Pidge. You know you loved us.” _

_ “Yeah, sure, big guy. The smithy is in the back of the castle, a couple rooms down from the training deck.” _

_ “Thanks a lot, Pidge!” _

He’d practically sprinted to the forge. Breathing hard and breaking into a light sweat, he felt a rush of exhilaration. He grabbed a hammer and tongs, a grin practically splitting his face in two, and got to work.

Days, weeks passed. He worked diligently, spending his free time at the forge. Once, after a particularly exhausting battle, Keith found him. 

Keith had been walking to the training deck to blow off some excess steam when he heard loud clanging coming from the room next to it. Curious, he opened the door and was surprised to see Hunk bent over a glowing piece of metal, hammering away at it. His shoulders were hunched, he was sweating bullets, and he looked like death.

Carefully, Keith closed the door and waited for Hunk to place what he was working on back into the fire. He watched the yellow paladin slump to the floor and let out a great yawn. He walked over and sat next to him.

_ “Hey…” _

_ “Keith?! What are you doing here?” _

_ “I was gonna go train, but I heard noises in here. Came to check it out and saw you.” _

_ “You...you should rest. We just had a long fight. You need to conserve your energy.” _

_ “Ha. You’re one to talk. You look like death himself. What are you working on that’s got you in here instead of in bed?” _

_ “Nothing. Nothing important.” _

_ “I doubt that. But I won’t press. But...Hunk, please take better care of yourself. You shouldn’t put this project over your health. Voltron needs you. We need you.” _

_ “...Really? I don’t think so. I’m just an overweight kid who got dragged along by Lance here and used for comic relief.” _

_ “...” _

_ “...” _

_ “...No.” _

_ “Huh?” _

_ “No, you are not. You’re not ‘just an overweight kid’ to be used as the punchline of a joke. You are valuable. You’re a leg for a reason. You support this team, your friends. You’re really smart-we wouldn’t have been able to survive that space worm thing without your brain. Your weight doesn’t matter-what matters is what is within you.” _

_ “...Thanks, Keith. Shay said the same thing.” _

_ “Shay? ...Oh, I see now. No problem, man. I get that this is important, but Shay won’t marry a guy who’s about to go knocking on death’s door. You need to be alive to propose, you know?” _

_ "I...what?" _

_ "Haha, Lance will be disappointed that you didn't actually make friendship bracelets." _

He sputtered and could not form any coherent words, much to Keith’s amusement. The red paladin led his friend back to his room with strict orders to rest and not overexert himself. After Keith left, he lay staring up at the ceiling.

The kindness of his teammate had revived his memories of the girl he loved. Things she’d said to him.

_ “The people who love and care about you will lift you up, not drag you down.” _

_ “You are so, so strong. I know you’ll be able to get through anything.” _

_ “Hey...if you ever have a panic attack or start stress-eating, think about me. Okay?” _

_ “Here, I’ll teach you my grandmother’s recipe for Balmeran Soup. It doesn’t actually have the Balmera in it, but it’s meant to be revitalizing. In case you ever need a pick-me-up, as you call it.” _

_ “Save yourself! Go!” _

_ “I love you, too.” _

He fell asleep with her smile in mind. 

* * *

 

Four months passed. He thought about her every day. And one day, he was able to return to the Balmera. They ran to each other and held on tight. 

“I’m never letting you go again.”

“Hunk?”

“Shay...will you marry me?”

“...”

The silence made him worried and he looked up to see tears falling from her eyes. Hurriedly, he stood up and gently wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Shay…?” he questioned softly.

She threw her arms around him, kissing him. When at last they pulled away, she whispered, “Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: your-dilemma


End file.
